Chương 155: I Can't Think of How to Lose

Hoenn region, Kanaz City International Airport.

After a six-hour flight, the flight, which spanned four thousand kilometers, finally reached its destination.

As the special plane landed smoothly, the cabin door slowly opened.

Led by Cattleya and Lusha, the Sinnoh Celebration Academy delegation filed out and set foot on the land of Hoenn.

"Click! (This private jet is actually quite comfortable!)" Lu Sha walked down the plane's gangway, stretched out a big yawn, and his bones cracked like popping beans.

Having grown accustomed to being carried around at supersonic speeds by the young lady on ordinary days, this private jet flight felt like sleeping in a cradle to him.

He took a good nap and when he opened his eyes again, they had already landed.

"Welcome, everyone. I am Michael, the second-in-command of the German Academy. I have been waiting for you all for a long time."

Below the gangway, Michael, who already knew about the celebration academy's schedule, stepped forward as the representative of the Hoenn organizers, bowing with an impeccable smile.

He wore a well-tailored white trench coat, and his every move perfectly embodied his unique aesthetic.

"Kaka! (Yo, long time no see, Mikori!)" Lu Sha chuckled and naturally stepped forward, raising his shark arm to pat Mikoli's shoulder heavily.

The slap wasn't particularly forceful, but it stiffened all of Mikoli's muscles.

This almost rude "buddy-buddy" greeting completely violates his social aesthetics.

But under the watchful eyes of everyone, and faced with Lu Sha's enthusiasm, he couldn't lose his composure by dodging or refusing.

However, the next second, Mikoli's expression cracked.

"Wait! Why is there oil on your paws?"

Seeing the shiny dragon claw print on his pure white trench coat, which was custom-made by a top designer and kept spotless every day, Mikoli's face instantly turned green as if he had been poisoned.

"Crunch? (Oh, sorry, I just ate two special tree fruit roasted duck legs on the plane. You have to blame Diamond and the others for this; they insisted on stuffing so much food into my mouth before I left, it would be a waste not to eat it. Burp~)" Lu Sha nonchalantly withdrew his claws, even letting out a satisfying burp reminiscent of roast duck, and watched with a wicked grin as Mikoli's expression gradually crumbled.

For some reason, every time Lu Sha saw this young nobleman who always talked about aesthetics, his inherent perverse sense of humor would be amplified, and he would always want to do something to see him break down.

"They prepared food for you, but you don't necessarily have to finish it all! Even if you do eat it, you don't necessarily have to get your hands all oily! Even if you get your hands oily, you don't have to smear it on my clothes!" Mikoli said, holding her forehead in pain.

Every time he encountered this shark, he suffered terribly.

Recalling the last time he went to help at the bottom of Lizhi Lake, his fine clothes were stained with blood and mud. Even after washing for three days and three nights, he still felt a fishy smell in his nose.

"Click click! (Alright, alright, cheer up. Here, this is compensation. Now that we're all here, shouldn't we get going?)" Lu Sha stopped his mischievous grin at the right moment, took out an exquisite gift box from his small handbag, and casually tossed it to Mikoli.

"What is this?"

Michael instinctively caught the gift box.

The moment his fingertips touched it, an extremely pure and rich wave of water-based energy emanated from his palm, causing a hint of surprise to flash in his eyes.

"Click. (A drop of high-grade mysterious water. You did help at the bottom of Lake of Ambition last time, so consider this a thank-you gift.)" High-quality Mysterious Water Droplets, while not top-tier resources, are still more precious than top-tier Super Gems, and are equally rare resources with prices but no market availability.

It's more than enough to repay the favor Mikoli did last time.

Honestly, the outcome of that time at the bottom of the lake was exactly the same whether or not Mikuri was there.

However, Lu Sha always believed in keeping things separate. Since the other party was willing to take the risk and be the first to step in the minefield, Lu Sha accepted the favor.

Thanks!

Mikoli raised an eyebrow slightly, put the gift box away, and didn't make any pretentious refusal.

The value of the resources themselves was nothing to him, but Lu Sha's willingness to give this gift meant that the other party recognized him as a friend.

This actually lessened Michael's initial annoyance at having his clothes dirty.

He had a very good impression of Cattleya and Lu Sha as early as the Lizhi Lake incident.

Although this shark's personality is indeed a bit nasty, on second thought, my best friend Daigo's personality isn't much better, and he often teases me about his aesthetics.

You know what, maybe it's true what this shark said, that if these two were put together, they might actually have a lot in common.

"Your accommodations have been arranged, and the shuttle is outside. I'll take you there now. I'll explain the schedule for this Academy Cup in detail along the way."

Mikoli carefully put away the gift box, put on her impeccable smile again, and turned to lead the way.

Under his leadership, the group from Zhuqing Academy boarded the bus prepared by the Hoenn Alliance.

Although this is the Pokémon world, mechanical transportation remains the absolute mainstream mode of daily commuting in urban clusters.

After all, not all Pokémon are suitable for carrying people.

Riding a Pokémon and shouting loudly while chatting on the go seems a bit inelegant.

"Ladies and gentlemen, this year marks the 19th World Academy Cup since the Pokémon League was founded. It is also the first time in the history of this tournament that it has been held outside the Kanto region."

As soon as he got in the car, Mikoli picked up the microphone in the front row, his tone filled with undisguised pride.

This is not only Hoenn's glory, but also his glory.

It was because last year, he and Daigo teamed up to lead the team to fight to the bitter end in the finals and finally defeated Indigo Academy, led by Shiba and Lorelei, that they managed to snatch the hosting rights for this year from Kanaz City.

If given the opportunity, they not only want to host this year's College Cup well, but also want to keep that championship trophy, which symbolizes glory, in Hoenn once again.

"Cut! (Stop with the fluff, get straight to the schedule, how are we going to play this year?)" Lu Sha and Cattleya sat in a row.

The young lady sat quietly by the window, enjoying the view, while Lu Sha sat sprawled out on the outside.

Because his size had increased again, there was nowhere to put his thick and powerful tail, so it could only be coiled around Cattleya's long legs.

According to league regulations, Pokémon are usually required to be returned to their Poké Balls when using public transportation.

But ever since Lu Sha started following Cattleya, he has never been able to put a Poké Ball in his pocket again.

He still doesn't know where the young lady put that Poké Ball.

Anyway, so far, no one has caused them any trouble because of this.

"A total of 64 schools participated in this competition, coming from the eight regions of Kanto, Hoenn, Sinnoh, Unova, Kalos, Alola, Galar, and Padina."

"Each of the five major league regions has 10 representative teams. Carlos has 7, Padia has 6, and Alora has 1."

"Huh? (So many teams? Are gym-level trainers already commonplace?)" Lu Sha was somewhat surprised.

He hadn't bothered to look into those complicated event details.

Before coming, Prantina had compiled a list of information on the contestants from each academy and sent it to the group chat, but he didn't read it at all because he thought it was too long. The young lady, however, did read it through.

He can tell how strong his opponent is just by hearing their name.

He glanced at the list; it was long, but only a very few contestants were worth paying attention to.

"In a region, there are hundreds of thousands of new trainers every year. Even if only one percent of these trainers enter the academy, and then there is a process of elimination, it still results in an enormous number."

Mikoli's smile now carried a hint of the arrogance of a strongman: "However, for our two academies, there aren't many academies that are truly worth being wary of. At most, there are only four teams that deserve our attention."

"Crack! (Well said. Those rotten fish and shrimp are nothing but clay chickens and earthen dogs. Looking at the new generation of heroes, there are only you and me.)" Lu Sha chuckled and raised his head high in agreement.

Gadrilia looked at Lu Sha's crazy antics through the car window, a hint of a smile in her eyes, and continued to gaze at the scenery outside the window.

"Haha! That's an extremely beautiful statement; it resonates deeply with me!"

Mikoli couldn't help but burst into hearty laughter; their German Academy was even more arrogant than Zhuqing Academy.

In his eyes, even Cattleya and the others were not enough to be stumbling blocks on their path to defending their title.

Cattleya is indeed very strong.

If they were to encounter each other in the wild, Michael admitted that Daigo might be the only one from the German Academy with a chance of winning.

However, the reason why the Academy Cup is called the Academy Cup is that it is not just about the strength of a single trainer, but also about the overall strength of the entire academy.

No matter how ridiculously strong Gadlia is, she is still limited by the rules of the competition and cannot defeat ten opponents by herself.

It wasn't that Mikkelsen thought Gadriya lacked the ability, but rather that the rules didn't allow her to do so.

"Click! (By the way, how's the competition this year? Have the rules changed?)" Lu Sha asked casually.

These rules are naturally explained in detail in a manual, but having someone from the organizer present them saves them the trouble of reading through each page.

"Exactly the same, without a single change. As the first time hosting, Hoenn has absolutely no intention of changing the rules from the previous year. Because we are confident that, under any rules, German Academy can achieve final victory. This is the magnificent aesthetic of Hoenn," Mikuri answered confidently.

"This time, the lottery will still use the chief judge method. The strongest students from each academy will step forward and determine the initial order based on their strength."

"Then, the first-place player plays the last-place player, the second-place player plays the second-to-last-place player, and so on, until the final champion is determined."

"Click! (Wow, this competition format is interesting.)" Lu Sha's previously listless eyes instantly lit up.

This head-to-tail ranking system is practically designed to stifle upsets, greatly reducing the probability of weaker teams pulling off an upset through luck.

Even if you're lucky enough to win a game, you'll still have to face strong teams in the next round, and you could be eliminated if you're not careful.

So, here's the question.

How exactly is this ranking of the strongest determined?

Is it based on past battle records? Or on the actual Pokémon battle? Or some other special testing method?

If it's the latter two, then there's a lot more room for maneuver and creative ideas.

Seeing Lu Sha's increasingly excited and malicious gaze, Mikoli's heart skipped a beat, and a strong sense of foreboding welled up inside her.

The method for determining strength and weakness this year is actually very similar to that of previous years.

The organizers will send a champion-level Pokémon as an examiner, and the strongest Pokémon from each academy will unleash their strongest attack on it.

Finally, this champion-level examiner will assess the strength of the moves and ultimately give an absolutely fair ranking.

This simple and direct testing method makes it impossible to cheat.

Michael couldn't think of any way to exploit the loophole.

The key point is that hiding your strength to get a lower ranking is completely pointless.

The higher the ranking, the weaker the opponents in the first round, the less stamina the team will expend, and the more rest time they can have for the tough battles to come.

While academy ace players like them might be able to keep up with the pace, the ordinary members of the school team simply cannot withstand high-intensity continuous combat in a short period of time.

"Next are the specific battle modes. They will still be divided into arena battles, singles battles, and doubles battles, using a best-of-three format."

Mikuri forcefully suppressed the strange feeling in his heart and continued to advance the process: "Arena Tournament: Each team sends out five students, each limited to one Pokémon, to compete in a 1V1 gauntlet battle. The loser is eliminated, and the winner continues, until one side is completely wiped out."

"Single Battle: Each team sends out three students, each using three Pokémon. It's still a 1v1 battle, best of three."

"Double Battle: Each team sends out two students, each with two Pokémon. They engage in 2V2 double battles, and the team whose Pokémon are all defeated first wins."

The rules weren't complicated, and the students from Zhuqing Academy inside the bus listened attentively, but that was all they did.

There was no worry, no tension, not even a trace of solemnity.

Mikoli's brow furrowed unconsciously.

Is it because you've already thoroughly studied the rules, so you feel there's no need to pay attention to them?

But even when reviewing the rules, isn't this reaction a bit too bland in the face of the impending fierce battle?

Where do these guys get this inexplicable confidence from?

Mikoli glanced around the carriage without making a sound, secretly calculating in his mind.

Cattleya's power is widely acknowledged.

Michael had mentally rehearsed countless times that even if Daigo played all his cards, his chances of winning against Cattleya were at most 50/50.

This means that as long as Sinnoh puts Cattleya in the arena, Celebration Academy is almost guaranteed to win at least one game.

But the question is, with Zhuqing Academy's current roster, what can they use to win the crucial second victory?

Michael personally watched the match between Zhuqing Academy last year.

Although Wusong and A-Liu were good, in his eyes they were just good.

If they were to face off, he was confident he could easily take on two opponents at once.

Even if Gadriya wins the first match in the arena, the remaining singles and doubles matches will be handled by him and Daigo respectively. How could Devon Academy possibly lose?

Surely Zhuqing Academy isn't hiding some trump card, is it?

Mikoli's gaze swept across the back of the group, lingering on Cynthia for only half a second before moving away.

Even if a first-year student who has only been enrolled for a few months has the highest talent, their foundation is extremely limited.

If it were the current generation fighting Wataru, who was a freshman three years ago, it would be an absolute one-sided beatdown.

Even though Du had already been cultivating for a whole year at that time.

A monster like Cattleya, who defies common sense, is a miracle if one appears in an era. How could they possibly appear in the same academy?

In the end, Mikoli's gaze returned to Lu Sha, his eyes filled with vigilance.

His intuition told him that if there was any variable in Sinnoh, it definitely lay with this Garchomp.

This guy is completely beyond the comprehension of common sense; his mind is always full of bizarre and underhanded tactics and crazy maneuvers.

But no matter what tricks this shark is hiding, Devon Academy is determined to win this championship!

On this stage called Hoenn, no one can stop them from defending their title!